Installation is straightforward, with the step-by-step guide leading you clearly through the process, so that you can have your drive up and running with the minimum of fuss. Windows automatically recognised the drive and it just remained to install the software, which was equally painless.

The software included is the excellent Nero Burning ROM. Where Nero excels is in its advanced feature set, tailored towards those who want to maximise the use of their CD-RW drive. Whether you are looking to overburn CD-Rs so as to squeeze more data on, write to multiple drives simultaneously, create bootable CDs, remove hiss from analogue recordings, utilise buffer under-run technology, such as SafeBurn, or you need UDF support for packet writing CD-RWs, Nero has a powerful set of tools to help you. It is also the ideal companion for those working with multimedia files. For those with less experience of CD writing, who are likely to be overwhelmed by the vast array of features Nero has to offer, a Wizard system is available to manage the less involved tasks. This makes burning direct copies of CDs a simple matter of following a walkthrough of options.